Greg Tananbaum interviews Sally Morris in the June issue of Against the Grain. The interview is not online, even for subscribers. I don't have access and will borrow, with thanks, the excerpt blogged by William Walsh:
Q. What are the most common concerns about the state of publisher-library relations voiced by your membership?
A. ...One issue that does sometimes arise is the perceived confusion inherent in library support for Open Access. It often appears that librarians support both kinds of OA as a way of saving money. However, they don't seem to follow this through logically. They seem to overlook the fact that OA journals require just as much funding as before, though through a different route. If the money has to be redirected, it will be taken away from libraries. They also seem to overlook the fact that if they use OA archives as a way of saving money, this means they will be canceling subscriptions. This will damage journals (and their proprietors, including learned societies), possibly in some cases terminally. There does seem to be a generalized dislike of large commercial publishers and a feeling that large profits are intrinsically wrong--however, the tactics adopted to "punish" them are in fact much more likely to damage small nonprofit publishers that produce high-quality journals at extremely resonable prices....
Comments.
As money is redirected from subscription journals to OA journals, it won't all come from libraries. For example, a good portion will come from funding agencies willing to pay article processing fees on behalf of their grantees. The part that will come from libraries could and should be limited to the part of the serials budget freed up by cancellations.
No doubt, many people (researchers, librarians, university administrators, legislators) are angry about skyrocketing journal prices, and some think of OA as a way to "punish" publishers. But most OA proponents think of it as a positive alternative, not punitive. Publishers who fixate on attempts to punish them will overlook the appeal of OA as a positive alternative to price barriers.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 7/27/2006 06:38:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
